Friday, June 15, 2018

An Immediate Problem

Most thinking people are now only too aware (that) we must curb pollution and find new, clean sources of energy although the immediacy of the situation is still being heavily played down. Very few people, even in the field of science, are truly aware of just how serious the problem really is and how desperately urgent is the need for immediate action. Even less clear is what path we need to follow.

A complete solution will not be easy to achieve but it must be tackled head-on and the sooner we start in reducing our emissions the better our chances. Every additional month of delay will exponentially escalate the cost of implementing the changes necessary. Delay will also threaten millions of more lives and (more than just possibly) the very survival of civilization as we know it.

Logically, within 10 or 20 years at most we must:

1. Have a FULLY DEVELOPED technology for clean, renewable energy in ways that can be made available to both rich and poor at an affordable cost

2. Found a solution and largely replaced commercial aircraft that pollute our skies. and finally

3. We must have shut down ALL major sources of pollution or converted them to clean technology.

Many will be aware of Al Gore's impressive film, 'An Inconvenient Truth'. It is certainly a major 'wake-up' call to all humanity. However, as terrifying as the prospect presented might already seem, Al Gore's solutions simply don't go far enough.

Simply stated, our growing affluence and/or the growing population of our world will make Al Gore's stated targets totally unachievable. Realistically, our goal must be to stabilise (and preferably reduce) the population and cease using anything that creates even modest pollution. We must also recycle everything it is possible to recycle.

If we fail, then sooner rather than later, civilisation as we know it will cease to exist.